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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. SCRIBNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNCR TO THE WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY,4 OF SAME PLACE.

FOR TELEPHONES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 271,280, dated January 30|, 1.883.

Application filed May 14, 1881.

To all whom it may concern y Be it known that I, CHARLES E. SGETBNER,

of Chicago, Illinois, have discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Secrecy- ,5 Switches for Telephones, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

My switch is designed to be used at several stations on a single line, and is so constructed 1o that when the telephone of astation is placed in'its support behind the switch-lever the line.

will he closed through the station,and l place a. guard near the switch-lever, so that when the telephone is lifted and removed from its I5 support the lever will be moved positively in one direction or the other at the will of the subscriber. Contact-points are arranged near thelever, so that the local circuit is closed when the switch is turned, whether to the zo right or left. The main circuit is opened at one side of the switch and grounded through the telephone apparatus at the other side, according to the direction in which the lever is turned.

ln the drawings, Figure l" is a front elevation of a secrecy-switch embodying, my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section thereof'. The telephone A is of the form known as the 3o pony-crown.77

B is the wooden base, to which the different parts of the switch are attached. C is a guard placed above the switch-lever D.

The upper portion of. the switch is bifur- 35 cated, so that the telephone must come between the prongs when placed upon its support.

l have shown the pony-crown telephone A placed on the support E. I may, however, use 4o any other form, as the Bell hand-telephone A', which I have shown in the ground-circuit. The support must be made to correspond to the shape of thetelephoue. The support E (shown in Figs. 2 and 3) consists ot' a. bifurcated cast- 4 5 ing attached rigidly to theframe. The prongs (No model.)

l phone rests upon the prongs of the said fixed support, as shown. A

The guard C is placed so that when the telephone is upon its support the circuit of the 5o main line will be closed through the lever, and when the telephone is taken out of its support the lever will he moved so as to open the circuit on one side and ground it on the other'.

The main line is connected with plates u and 5 5 a', with which the arms b and b of the switch are normally in contact. c and d are contactplates, to which the local circuit is connected. When either arm b or b is brought in contact with the contact-plates c d the two plates are 6o connected, thus completing` the local circuit through the transmitter and prim iry of the iuduction-coil.

When the telephone is taken from the support the switch must be turned in one direc- 65 tion or the other. Cu taking the telephone from its support the lever takes the position indicated by the dotted lines iu Fig. 1. The main line, is thus opened at contact-plate al., and closed on the other side through plate a, 7o arms b and b', plate c, and the secondary of the induction-coil and the telephone to ground, as shown. In like manner the linemay be opened at plate a and closedthrough plate a to ground by taking the telephone to the let't when re- 75 moving it from its support.

I claim- The pivoted switch-lever provided with two upright prongs and the arms b b,in combination with the guard, the fixed support placed 8o behind the prongs, and the telephone-receiver, said switch-lever being adapted to be moved positively to the right or to the left, as desired, when the telephone is removed from the sition when the telephone is replaced upon the support, whereby the. circuits may be changed, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

CHARLES E. SCRIBNER. Witnesses:

GEORGE P. BARTON,

WILLIAM S. GRANGER.

support, and to be restored to its upright po- 85` 

